Healthy Eating

Healthy eating starts by making informed food choices. Choosing a variety of nutrient-rich foods as the foundation of what you eat can help you live a longer, healthier life. Tufts experts keep you up to date on everything from shopping for the best meats, fish, fruits and vegetables to nutrition-smart food preparation and more.

Vitamins & Supplements

The best way to get the nutrients your body needs is by eating a balanced diet. But it's not always easy to meet your daily requirements of certain nutrients from food alone. Tufts experts separate the facts from the hype on supplements. You'll find unbiased information on vitamins like B-complex, C, D and E, supplements like omega-3 and lutein and essential minerals like magnesium and potassium and how they can protect or, in high doses, even harm your health.

Exercise & Mobility

The health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity are hard to ignore. Exercise can prevent weight gain, help you lose weight, reduce your risk for chronic diseases, even improve your mood. There are many ways for older adults to include physical activity and promote mobility. You'll discover in-depth ideas for protecting your mobility and independence, and receive the latest news on joint health, inflammation, and healthy bones.

Articles

Healthy Heart

A healthy heart is essential to remaining active and full of energy. Protecting your heart is easier than you might think. Taking steps such as limiting certain fats and including "good fats" that improve your cholesterol can reduce your risk of coronary artery disease, heart attack and stroke. You'll learn about the most important steps you can take to ensure a healthy heart from the experts at Tufts.

Healthy Mind

Understanding how our brain functions is related to what we eat is an emerging area of fascinating scientific discovery. Learn how certain foods and nutrients affect cognition, and get the facts about brain-boosting foods such as green tea and dark chocolate so you can live the most mentally healthy lifestyle possible for years to come.

Articles

Healthy Aging

Feeling fit and well will help you get the most out of your everyday life as you age. Tufts experts will give you the knowledge to manage your health and offer tips on to increase your energy and maintain your independence. Stay on top of the latest health research to get the most out of life.

Q. Which rice is best to eat—white, parboiled brown rice, quick brown rice, basmati rice or others? Which scores lowest on the glycemic index?

A. Nicola McKeown, PhD, associate professor and director of the Friedman School’s Nutritional Epidemiology Program, replies: “In the US, we are fortunate to have supermarket shelves stocked with a wide variety of products, and this is certainly true with rice. Different varieties of rice contain different types and ratios of starches (amylose and amylopectin), which influence the rate at which they are digested—the higher the proportion of amylose starch, the slower the rate of digestion, and the lower the glycemic index. The glycemic index (GI) is a physiological ranking, 0 to 100, used to reflect how a carbohydrate-containing food causes an increase in blood sugar (glucose) levels. Rice varieties that are longer grain that have a higher amylose content (19-23%) tend to have lower GI values than shorter-grain rices, which have a lower amylose content (12-19%). As such, the GI of the rice can range from as low as 43 to as high as 96.

“The form of rice also influences the GI; for instance, brown rice and parboiled white rice fall into the category of medium-GI (GI 56-69) foods. Interestingly, cooking methods can also influence the GI of rice. For instance, if white rice is boiled and then refrigerated to be used, for example, in a rice salad, changes occur in the digestibility of the starch, and the GI of the rice is lowered and falls into the category of a low-GI food.

“Because rice is rarely consumed on its own and is accompanied with other foods, this too can influence the overall GI of the mixed meal. Therefore, as you can see, determining which rice is best to eat and has the lowest GI is a complex question!

“As general advice, choose a parboiled rice or long grain brown rice over short-grain white rice, and remember that cooling rice or adding legumes to rice lowers the GI. Suitable grain substitutes that fall into the low-GI food category (under 55) include wild rice, pearl barley and quinoa; these may accompany your main dish very well in place of white rice.”